As Pheo stared into the somber yet serious eyes of the fierce warrior before him, he had finally been overcome by the feeling of defeat. As hope nearly left him, the only positive thought left was, "maybe I can still get out…" However, he even wasn't sure if he believed in this himself. This bottomless despair was all too familiar… Yet, through the darkness of this grim situation, a voice called out "Wait! Stop!"
Pheo gazed up to find an elegant five-foot fairy in a beautiful red dress with long silver hair. She called out to the warrior fairy, who appeared to be both relieved and slightly annoyed.
The fairy in red floated gracefully towards them, appearing almost as an angel to Pheo:
"I had been following you all the way here, but I'm not that fast. My name is Aria. And as the number one friend of the princess and head of the Grevillia family, I request you hand the intruders to me and allow me to deal with them!"
The warrior fairy sighed, "I don't have a good feeling about this… However, I wish not to argue with the royal families." She glared at Pheo with a look of death "If you lay a hand on any fairy in this kingdom, I will behead you." With that, she immediately flew away.
Aria sighed and rushed to Pheo in an attempt to heal him, "Are you OK?!" She also confirmed his passed out teammates' heart beats with her other hand.
Fatigue had slowly gotten to Pheo and once adrenaline had left and he felt safe, exhaustion finally caught up to him, "Yeah, I'm fine, just gonna… take a nap…"
And with that, Pheo fell unconscious.
At this point it had become repetitive, yet not unwelcome, for Pheo to wake up in an unfamiliar bed after passing out from exhaustion. Despite the pleasantry, Pheo planned to make it his last time in this situation; it's hard to be a savior and a hero if you're always passing out.
He got up and looked around. It's a generally small room, just big enough to fit him. It seemed to be made of magical trees forming a house-like structure without physical cuts or signs of building. The bed was soft and heavenly and seemed like it was enchanted. Clearly it was the best bed he'd been in. However the room was barren.
Suddenly, he heard talks above him and left the tree house. He jumped back and his heart sped up a bit as he found himself high in the air on a giant tree. Pheo caught his breath and slowly walked out, seeing Aria and his allies chatting on the tree house's roof.
Pheo hopped a little to grab the branch and pulled himself up slowly, rolling onto it. He laid down and looked up at everyone with a jokey smile, "yo."
Everyone gave a small giggle and eye-roll in response. Liz patted his head with a sigh, "I suppose three times a charm?"
Pheo nodded as he sat up, "And no more, promise."
"You really are a delight, aren't you?", Aria smiled politely. "Well, now that you're awake I can properly greet you as well. My name is Aria, head of the mighty Grevillia family! One of the richest and most influential families throughout the fairy kingdom; but more importantly, I'm the princess' best friend!"
Pheo nodded with a grateful smile, "Yeah, I caught that, thanks for the help but… why did you help us?"
Aria sighed and shook her head with sad expression, "It has to do with this war. There's something… off. As head of the most influential family, I know that this war isn't necessary. At least it doesn't feel like it. The princess loves humans as much as I do and hates the war even more. Her highness clearly knows something I don't, but she refuses to tell me…"
She looked down, "But I can tell she's incredibly troubled, all this bloodshed… innocent people dying…"
As Pheo witnessed this fairy's incredible sadness and heard her words he was once again hit with the gut-wrenching realization: this was all true, these were real lives, and real losses.
But regardless of his inner fear, Pheo refused to falter; after his earlier dance with death he could neither deny the true weight of his situation, nor could he run from it.
Survival is one of multiple options…
And so is death,
But he chose heroism.
Aria put a hand on Pheo's shoulder "I need your aid. Especially you, Pheonix. I've heard you're a master with your words and I've even watched you somehow convince the royal guard to not kill you immediately."
Any day prior Pheo would've flustered, nodded, and said, "Sure. Let's go".
However today he stared deep into Aria's eyes and put his hand on her shoulder, "I will do everything I can Aria. I promise. Though, if she won't tell you… How am I supposed to do anything?"
Aria smiled and lightly shook her head:
"Don't worry. The reason she won't tell me isn't due to mistrust, but, to quote her: 'for my safety'. A compassionate and clever human should be able to get to her. Though I will warn you, she can be hard to get through, and she may appear cold at first."
Pheo nodded and stood up. He stared upon the vast village before him, full of fairies flying to and fro, not any different from a human one: just as unique, just as lively, and just as vulnerable. He turned back to Aria: "Lead the way. I've got your back."
Liz and Eli smile as they arose behind Pheo.
"Likewise, captain." They spoke together.
As Pheo heard these words he turned in surprise to see their trusting faces. He froze as he processed in his head what that truly meant. Though they are stronger, more skilled, more experienced, and all around more competent, they placed their trust in him, as their captain.
In the end, all Pheo managed to do was smirking and pointing a thumbs up, and that was all he needed to do.
Aria nodded and cast a quick spell that encompassed them in a magic aura, "Quick warp: Aurora's abode."
Everything quickly went white and then back to normal. They found themselves within a fancy living room with red walls and floors. Before them was a very cozy couch.
Pheo and his crew curiously looked around as Aria went on to explain, "Her highness has a room and things within the castle. However she mostly resides in her abode, a pocket dimension living room with a single door."
Aria motioned to a door to the right, "By putting in a certain combination of magical signals into the doorknob it can take you to any of many pocket dimensions she owns."
Even Liz appeared to be shocked. "Such is the insane magical prowess and reserves of the heir to the throne of fairies. So how should we approach this?"
Aria shrugged as she grabbed the door handle. "Her highness might act cold, but she's fond of humans… and me of course. We can probably just walk in and talk."
Liz shrugged, "Honestly, it's not too bad of an idea."
Aria slowly opened the door and walked forward, leading everyone in.
Once entered, they were greeted by another red room and a large crimson bed with nightstand and a small lamp.
However, the princess on the bed was the utmost eye-catching:
Before them laid a fairy, who was bigger then most, coated in elegance from head to toe. An extravagant and flowing blue dress covered her body and she wore blue stockings and long blue lace gloves. Her blue hair was long, thick, and flowing. However, the blue was all in contrast to her beautiful purple lipstick and eye-shadows, complemented by a light blush. The fairy before them was so divine it felt almost wrong to even look at her.
However, her peaceful slumber was not long as she slowly opened her purple crystal eyes, that pierced through their very soul with a judging stare. For a small moment, everyone stood in place until the princess smiled. Suddenly, she disappeared and reappeared right before Pheo as she floated at eye level with him, leaning in and inspecting him. Pheo was frozen in place as she smirked and commented:
"I thought you may try to bring visitors to cheer me up eventually but I didn't think you'd bring me a hookup Aria."
She laughed and sighed, "I'm flattered you're into me, don't try to hide it." She turned to Aria and sighed as her mood quickly changed, "But on a real note, what on earth is this?"
Aria sighed and rolled her eyes as she floated over to her, "Your Highness, I brought them to help you, they want to help fix things. Let them help."
Aurora crossed her arms and huffed, "Honestly I would've preferred you did try to hook me up. I love you, Aria… but this isn't so simple."
Aria sighed and glanced at Pheo expectantly. Pheo thought for a second, before allowing impulse to take over, "Well then, if that's how you really feel, let's go on a date!"
Everyone simply sat in a stunned silence for a moment before Liz spoke, "Out of all the dumb things you have said, that most definitely takes the cake."
Eli shrugged and added, "I feel like marrying the dragon princess is a little dumber."
However, Aurora kept staring at Pheo, before floating to the ground. She landed, and slowly walked toward him. With every slow and deliberate step, Pheo grew anxious as his heart rate rose. She slowly lifted her hand up to his face and guided it so that his eyes would meet hers. As he stared into her beautiful violet eyes his cheeks flushed red.
Her eyes seemed to pierce his soul and read his mind, and perhaps they did. Finally she smiled, "You know what… that might not be the worst idea!" She turned to the door and grabbed Pheo's wrist, pulling him with her. Aria and Pheo's allies followed, but she turned to them and shook her head, "Nope, just us. Not even you Aria."
And with that, she quickly dragged Pheo into a new room. This room was more like a restaurant with no windows: it was extravagantly fancy, and a human-sized butler quickly seated them.
Pheo's mind ran wild. He was confident earlier, but his confidence has begun to falter. He was left without his friends and Aria. However as anxiety nearly took over, he stared the fairy princess in the eyes, and a realization stroke him.
"She can hear my thoughts, can't she?"
The princess smiled and nodded in confirmation.
"Then I suppose it's pointless to ponder. Something about her seems familiar, leave this to muscle memory, follow your heart."
Pheo took a deep breath as he smiled and stared the princess in her eyes with his own pleasant expression.
She giggled and reached forward holding his hand, "It must be pretty stressful to keep up this big facade going, I wonder what it's for?~"
Without missing a beat Pheo gripped her hand gently and responded "I could ask you the same."
This instant reaction caught the princess off guard, not only that but it was scarily… accurate.
Aurora prepared to say something sly back but before she could finish thinking about what to say, Pheo continued the assault.
"You're already nervous? It's okay, not many can understand just how mystical I am.~" Though it was a joke, it was somewhat intimidating. The way he practically openly and confidently teased her in her own mind games while also bragging; And as she peered into his mind once more she found he was wholeheartedly genuine. Who he was before has nearly disappeared, replaced by newfound confidence.
As the princess dug deeper, she found the true nature of Pheo. In the end, he saw this as a game, and-
"You're already in check," he said with a smirk as he patted her head.
And just like a game of chess, the princess made a single mistake, and had already nearly lost.
Was Pheo hiding a secret alter ego? Did he trigger some memory to give him confidence? No. He simply found the hole in the impenetrable shield. And now that he's wedged himself in, he no longer feared failure.
In any other situation, you may call this cockiness a flaw, but in a game of the mind, overwhelming confidence can be the scariest thing to be up against.
The fairy princess let out a long breath and sighed. She returned to her normal smile, "I apologize, and you are right. Perhaps you did catch me surprised. But hold, how long do you think you can keep this up?" she said with a grin.
Pheo shrugged, "As long as you keep projecting."
The fairy princess was confused again. She became flustered and self-absorbed for a moment, while Pheo finished talking to someone and turned back to her. He pushed on:
"This is pointless, I figured you out sweetheart. Step by step, I already knew you liked humans, I was told this. However, I didn't realize how fond of us you were until we met.
The way you inspected and talked of me… You were genuinely fascinated by the idea of a human's feeling towards you. Even if I wasn't the best man you've seen. However, you immediately realized you nearly blew your cold facade, yet, luckily you're the highest ranked fairy there so Aria can't read your emotions.
But, your Highness, I don't need magic to see what you think. I could read you from the beginning, and that's how I knew: you're just a simple girl who's caught up, mixed with this incredibly unnecessary war. Not of countries, but of people, of your family, and innocent people, and it's breaking and shaking you, so you try to act intimidating.
I know everything already. I just want to know why, and I want you to trust me."
In the midst of his speech, the butler came with two chocolate milks and Pheo started sipping, "Oh, and no offense, but my eyes are on the dragon princess. I am sorry, but I could never date you."
Aurora sat still, slowly drinking her own chocolate milk.
Pheo added on, "Oh, and while you were busy talking I asked what your favorite drink was. That's how I knew, because I care." He smiled genuinely.
The princess sat in a stunned silence. In mere seconds she had been defeated in a mind game: mentally deconstructed, exposed, while he had time to ask for her favorite drink and order it without her realizing.
As emotions overwhelmed her, the princess failed to resort to her usual tactic of hiding her nature with coldness. Aurora began to break, closed her eyes, buried her face in palms and started to cry. However, a gentle and caring hand kindly moved her hands from her face and wiped her tears with a napkin. The princess found her body slowly falling into the comforting embrace of a man only slightly taller than her, and soon it went from limping in his arms to fully relaxing.
Pheo smiled and petted her head, "Sometimes, when things become too much, you just need to cry in an emotionally intelligent stranger's arms. I know from experience." He mumbled with a sarcastic smile, proud of a self-burn they both were inevitably aware of.
As she looked up, she saw his awkward smile. Aurora slapped him very lightly and pouted, "I can't believe I just cried in the arms of a dork who turned me down for a dragon princess when I didn't even ask." She huffed before relaxing again. "My parents told me something about strangers…" She joked.
Pheo shrugged, "Did their parents ever tell them about not declaring needless war?" He joked back, and she rolled her eyes and smiled, "Fair, fine, I shall tell you everything." She said as her deep eyes looked at Pheo seriously.
Now was the moment of truth. But is it possible that the truth may be even worse than the lie the world already lived in?
Lies and deceit;
Oh they weep and they weep,
But make not a peep,
When the blood hits stone.
"Oh, why?" – they scream;
In truth, it's a means:
Means to an end
Of a selfish woe